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For almost 30 years, my colleagues and I at the non-profit Preventive Medicine Research Institute have developed effective strategies in motivating people to make comprehensive lifestyle changes. We've learned what works, what doesn't, for whom, and under what circumstances. Not only in San Francisco and New York, but in Omaha, Des Moines, West Virginia, and South Carolina (where they told me, "gravy is a beverage"). We have collected data from thousands of people who have shown bigger changes in diet and lifestyle, better clinical outcomes, and larger cost savings than have ever before been reported.In our research, we found that people who made bigger changes in diet and lifestyle were able to stop or reverse the progression of coronary heart disease. The frequency of chest pain (angina) decreased by more than 90% in the first few weeks, and most people became pain-free. Men and women. They not only felt better, in most cases they were better. We used expensive, high-tech, state-of-the-art measures to prove the power of low-cost, low-tech, and ancient interventions such as diet and lifestyle.
We measured improved blood flow to the heart in only a few weeks. After one year, even severely blocked coronary arteries became measurably less blocked. There was even more reversal after five years than after one year. And there were 2.5 times fewer cardiac events (such as heart attack, bypass surgery, and angioplasty) in the group that made comprehensive lifestyle changes when compared to a randomized control group of patients who made changes similar to those in the Women's Health Initiative.
Also, we recently published the first randomized controlled trial showing that these intensive changes in diet and lifestyle may stop or even reverse the progression of prostate cancer in men. What's true for prostate cancer is likely to be true for breast cancer as well.
In both heart disease and prostate cancer, we found that the more people changed their diet and lifestyle, the more improvement we measured. In order to reverse disease, people needed to make much bigger changes than most doctors had been recommending. If you can reverse disease, then it's even easier to prevent it.
Having seen what a powerful difference these changes in diet and lifestyle can make, it concerns me that the Women's Health Initiative study may discourage many people from making changes that could be so beneficial to them.
I'll be writing a monthly column in Reader's Digest starting in the September issue. In it, I'll share with you what we've learned about how to successfully make and maintain lasting changes in your diet and lifestyle. You have a spectrum of choices; it's not all or nothing. You don't need to make such big changes to prevent disease (the "ounce of prevention") as to reverse it (the "pound of cure"). I'll describe how you can customized a diet and lifestyle program that's just right for you, based on your own needs, genetic predisposition, and preferences.
To the degree you move in a healthful direction on the spectrum, you're likely to look better, feel better, lose weight, and gain health. Stay tuned.
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